Senior Customer Reference Program Manager

About the Position:

As a Senior Customer Reference Program Manager, you will lead the strategy, development, and execution of a high-impact customer reference program. In this role, you will collaborate with Customer Success Managers (CSMs) and Account Managers to identify and engage key advocates across industries and ensure a robust pipeline of available references. This position requires building strong relationships with executive stakeholders, creating recognition programs, and working closely with sales and marketing to drive revenue outcomes. 

What You’ll Be Doing 

• Strategy Development: Design a scalable customer reference program aligned with corporate goals, with a focus on building advocacy at senior levels across key accounts. 
• Manage the Reference Pool: Develop methods to grow and maintain an active pool of referenceable customers, ensuring diversity across regions, industries, and use cases. 
• Drive Sales Enablement: Collaborate with sales to provide timely references that align with deal stages, accelerating the sales cycle. 
• Develop Executive Relationships: Cultivate trust with senior leaders at customer organizations to encourage advocacy and ensure long-term engagement. 
• Recognition Programs: Work with customer marketing to create programs to reward and celebrate customer advocates, including case studies, events, and thought leadership opportunities. 
• Track and Optimize Performance: Use metrics and reporting tools to monitor program success and continuously improve outcomes based on feedback from stakeholders. 
• Cross-Department Collaboration: Work with marketing, sales, and customer success teams to ensure alignment with brand messaging and business objectives. 

How Your Success Will Be Measured 

• Impact on Sales Pipeline: Contribution to new deals, reduced sales cycles, and improved win rates through effective use of references. 
• Customer Advocacy Growth: Increase in the number of reference customers across strategic verticals and segments. 
• Customer Satisfaction and Retention: Maintain high satisfaction levels among participating customers to encourage repeat advocacy. 
• Internal Collaboration and Sales Feedback: Positive feedback from sales, CSM, and account management teams regarding the ease and effectiveness of the reference program. 
• Program Scalability: Ability to grow and adapt the program to support business growth and changing priorities. 

What You’ll Need 

• 7-10 years of experience in customer marketing, program management, or customer success within SaaS or technology companies. 
• Strong Executive Relationship Skills: Demonstrated ability to build trust and rapport with senior leaders across industries. 
• Sales Enablement Experience: Expertise in collaborating with sales teams to align reference programs with pipeline and revenue goals. 
• Program Management Skills: Proven ability to design and manage multiple initiatives simultaneously, with attention to detail and deadlines. 
• Marketing and CRM Tools Expertise: Proficiency with Salesforce, reference management platforms, and marketing automation tools. 
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to set long-term goals while delivering on immediate priorities. 
• Creative Problem Solving: Experience designing incentive programs to keep advocates engaged and recognized. 

  Physical Requirements 

• Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer. 
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times. 
• Travel up to 10%. 

Benefits: 

• Competitive salary
• 20 Days of PTO (Paid Time Off) and 13 days of companywide holidays 
• 8 hours to volunteer and impact the community 
• Comprehensive benefits (Health/Dental/Vision/ 401K) 
• Employee Choice Benefit